Digital cameras use electronic devices such as Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) to capture light, of an original image, and produce a digital representation of an image. The digital representation can be further manipulated using different compression or transmission techniques or standards such as Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Furthermore, the digital representation of the image can be stored in various digital formats in accordance with the intended memory storage mediums e.g. Hard disk, DVD, CD-Rom, etc. . . . such that the reproduction of the original image may be achieved using a variety of means or mediums using the stored digital representation of the original image. For examples, electronic display panel devices that can display the image on their screen.
The digital representation of the image can greatly vary in quality depending on the sampling of the original image. Each sample of the original image represents a small portion of the overall image. Therefore, more samples are required in order to have a better or more accurate representation of the original image. A pixel represents one sample of the original image. Normally, an image is sampled using a two-dimensional grid having a width, X, and a height, Y, that are specified in unit of pixel, where the digital image resolution corresponds to X times Y, and each pixel corresponds to the smallest single component of the original image. For example, a first camera with a resolution of 640×480 would have 640 pixels in the horizontal direction and 480 pixels in the vertical direction. The digital image resolution, total number of pixels, is 307,200 pixels. Higher resolution requires more pixels to be generated when capturing an image, and thus the closer the digital image produced is to the original image. Hence, a second digital camera with a resolution of 1280×960 would have a total number of pixels of 1,228,800 pixels or four times the resolution of the first camera.
Each pixel of a digital image corresponds to video data information that can be expressed in a digital format using a number of bits. The accuracy of the digital representation used to describe the content of each pixel of the video data information of the original image may be expressed as number of bits per pixel (bpp). A broader range of distinct colors can be represented with a higher number of bits per pixel. Currently, there are many different formats that are in use to capture and/or display color information, e.g. RGB where a portion of an original image is sampled using Red, Green, and Blue color data information. For example, a 24-bit RGB color model uses 8 bits to represent Red, 8 bits to represent Green and 8 bits to represent Blue. Under this model, the accuracy of digital representation or resolution of each of these three colors possesses a 28 or two hundred fifty six (256) levels. Therefore, the combination of these three colors, each having 256 levels, is equivalent to (256×256×256) or 16,777,216 possible colors.
A video camera captures a scene for a specific duration of time, and produces many sequential digital images. Normally, each digital image is referred to as a frame, having a frame size defined as number of horizontal pixels×number of vertical pixels. A frame rate is specified that represents the number of frames being captured per second. In addition, a scanning system is identified as progressive or interlaced to indicate how the video frames are generated and thus how they should be processed and displayed so that the original scene is faithfully reproduced when these digital images are played back in sequence using an electronic display panel, e.g. a digital television set.
In order to reproduce the original scene timing, each digital image, or frame within the scene, must be reproduced and displayed in a given amount of time. Hence, the allotted time required to process and display one pixel is limited and finite. Electronic display devices resolution is specified, in a similar way as explained above for a digital camera, and usually matches the resolution of the video data information being displayed. Again, the higher the resolution of the electronic display device is, the better the image that is being reproduced. As the electronic display panel technology advances and is capable of displaying an ever-higher resolution, the performance of the device electronics and circuitry must be able to process the video data information for each pixel within an ever-smaller allotted amount of time.
The processing demands on electronic circuits for High-Definition television (HD TV), e.g. 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels high, is much greater than a Standard-Definition television (SD TV), e.g. 720 pixels wide and 480 pixels high. The next generation of digital TVs and projectors, recently developed, will be able to display four times the high definition resolution of current HD TV sets. This Quad-HD set is capable of displaying 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high. This presents a big challenge to the processing circuitry, where each pixel must be processed and faithfully reproduced or displayed regardless of the resolution of the input image. Various types of standardized digital interfaces such as HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2a may be used for Quad-HD (3840×2160), HD (1,920×1,080), or other lower resolution such as SDTV (720×480).
The need arises to provide an electronic system capable of faithfully processing digital images with various resolutions and be able to display them using a Quad-HD resolution display or higher resolution type of electronic display panels. Marseille Networks' 4×HD™ video technology delivers the ability to process digital images to be displayed in 3840×2160 resolution, while selectively removing artifacts and preserving stunning image details. Furthermore, Marseille Networks is the first to introduce Quad-HD solution to home theater systems. Marseille Networks' 4×HD™ video technology provides a digital image processing system with ample flexibility and processing power for blending and or scaling various types of video data information streams, including Quad-HD, or HD streams, to be displayed over Quad-HD display panel. The need arises for a flexible yet powerful digital image processing system that incorporates independent vertical or horizontal scaling, filtering, and/or processing to drive such high resolution electronic display panels. Exemplary output display module is disclosed and described herein. Multiple output display modules may be used within a Digital Image Processing System such as previously disclosed.